Essay --

By now, R.K Narayan took a act from his usual way of writing. Moving away from writing books, which were more or less auto-biographical, his exposure to foreign lands would have inspired him to move beyond his world and h ane his creativity. Starting right from Mr. Sampath (1948) to The Vendor of Sweets (1967), this trend was seen in all books written in this period. The Guide and The Man-Eater of Malgudi is analyzed here, in this context. The Guide is R.K. Narayans best and most illustrious work. A 1958 novel, it win the SahityaAkademi Award for English in 1960. It was made even more famous and popular by the on-screen immortalization by DevAnand and WaheedaRahman in the 1965 movie of the same name. analyse the story of Raju, commonly called Railway Raju, the novel delineates his transformation from being a railway shop wielders son to a sought afterwardward tour guide to later on become the countrys most famous saint. Raju, who took over his fathers shop after his death real ized that taking people around the city of Malgudi as a tour guide is his forte. His life witnesses an upheaval when he is attracted to one of his customers, Rosie, a married woman who is neglected by her workaholic hubby, Marco. Rosies authorization to become a successful dancer, which is overlooked and ignored by her husband is spotted by Raju who encourages her to dance more. Following this, Rosie separates from her husband and rises to fame as a Bharatnatyam dancer with Rajus help. A mistake by Raju, later on earns him a two-year prison sentence. On his release from prison, Raju is mistaken to be a saint. Following a series of interesting events, Raju takes on himself a 12 day hunger-fast to pray for rains in the drought-stricken area. The story ends ... ...t manner in The Man-Eater of Malgudi. The underlying essence of the novel is based on the passe saying which says that a mans deed leads him to his destination. Inspiration from the Bhasmasuras myth is also seen in the b ook. Vasu is compared to being a rakshas (demon) who causes his own dusk himself. The 1954 KumbhMela stampede, which killed about 800 people seems to have affected Narayan as he mentions deaths ascribable to stampedes in his book. While Nataraj is attempting to persuade Vasu not to create a disturbance during the procession, Vasu talks about how melas are held to manage the population of the nation and to keep it under control. Population explosion of the 1950s and 1960s would have been the character reference of inspiration for this mention, which is taken up again in The Painter of Signs where the female person lead works on the issue of population control.